Prevention not Prescriptions

03/16/2010

Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.

We pay to create health problems

Dr. Neal Barnard weighs in

The luxury cruise ship was outfitted with a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, and an on-board swimming pool, justifying the ticket price of $4,350 for first class passage. What it did not have was a hull capable of withstanding an iceberg. And on April 14, 1912, the Titanic went down.

The health care reforms proposed by the administration and in Congress all aim to provide basic health care for the uninsured, an essential goal. But unhealthy federal policies have turned health care into a luxury, with no means of fending off the icebergs that lie dead ahead. Continue reading...

The luxury cruise ship was outfitted with a gymnasium, a squash court, a Turkish bath, and an on-board swimming pool, justifying the ticket price of $4,350 for first class passage. What it did not have was a hull capable of withstanding an iceberg. And on April 14, 1912, the Titanic went down.

The health care reforms proposed by the administration and in Congress all aim to provide basic health care for the uninsured, an essential goal. But unhealthy federal policies have turned health care into a luxury, with no means of fending off the icebergs that lie dead ahead. Consider this:

Even while our government is struggling to find ways to cover the costs of diabetes drugs and supplies—which typically cost between $3,000 and $5,000 for just one person with diabetes each year—it also pays out massive subsidies to the sugar industry. Junk food is made more affordable, and diabetes risk skyrockets.

Even as we seek to cover the cost of cholesterol-lowering drugs—one Lipitor pill costs about $5—our government also subsidies the production of high-cholesterol meat and cheese products.

As we gear up to help uninsured families get coverage for their children, government contracts ensure that school lunches are loaded with high-fat fare. More than 80 percent of schools serve too much high-fat food to comply with the federal government's own nutrition guidelines.

We pay to create health problems, and we pay again to treat them.

In 1909, when the construction of the Titanic began, the average American consumed about 150 pounds of meat per year. Today, that figure is over 200 pounds. A year's cheese consumption amounted to less than 4 pounds for the average person in 1909, but has reached nearly 33 pounds per person today.

We're wealthier than we were in 1909, and, collectively, we can afford a few luxuries. If our government wants to support these products with a billion dollars here and a billion there, we don't object. But then the real costs become clear. According to a recent report published by the American Diabetes Association, a person who eats meat or cheese daily is much more likely to be overweight, compared with a person who skips them altogether. And a meat-eater has double the risk of developing diabetes, compared to a person who avoids meat, and is more likely to develop cholesterol problems, heart disease, and hypertension, too.

So while we might be able to afford to buy unhealthful foods and to feed them to our families, the costs of the diseases that result are keeping members of Congress up at night and threaten to topple our economy. By 2017, about 20 cents of every dollar spent in the U.S. economy will be spent on health care, according to a recent Rand Corp. analysis.

While health care coverage should be viewed as a basic necessity, it has become a way of compensating for our diet excesses. It is a luxury of titanic proportions. Unless we reform not only health care, but also our health practices, we may find ourselves on a rapidly sinking ship.

03/09/2010

Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.

"Cancer is a Bitch" Wake-up Call

A safer and more gorgeous approach to beauty

I blasted into my 40’s strong and invincible. I ran, I practiced yoga, I kayaked, I ate a mostly organic vegetarian diet. I rarely got sick, no aches, no pains. I was a person others consulted for health and anti-aging tips. So it totally messed with my psyche when, at the age of 45, I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. Luckily, it was caught so early that I didn’t need chemo or radiation. Four years later, I am healthier than I have ever been, partly because it made me re-evaluate all my dietary and lifestyle choices and step up my game. When I re-evaluated, I realized while I had been very careful with what I put in my body, I hadn’t been as careful with what I put on my body. Continue reading...

03/08/2010

I blasted into my 40’s strong and invincible. I ran, I practiced yoga, I kayaked, I ate a mostly organic vegetarian diet. I rarely got sick, no aches, no pains. I was a person others consulted for health and anti-aging tips. So it totally messed with my psyche when, at the age of 45, I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. Luckily, it was caught so early that I didn’t need chemo or radiation. Four years later, I am healthier than I have ever been, partly because it made me re-evaluate all my dietary and lifestyle choices and step up my game. When I re-evaluated, I realized while I had been very careful with what I put in my body, I hadn’t been as careful with what I put on my body. When researching carcinogens, I learned that beauty products were filled with parabens and phthalates and other toxic chemicals. For awhile I made homemade lotions and potions out of things like organic jojoba oil and shea butter and seriously thought about starting an organic facial cream company but wrote a book about my experience instead.

Now when I am on the road reading from my memoir and giving speeches, women often ask me about my personal beauty tips (I know I’m not a model but they do ask me!). I also know what they’re asking is what I put on my skin to make it glow or my hair to make it shine and while I do have favorite (organic) beauty products, I started thinking that the best beauty tips actually come from the inside out.

So I came up with a list of my top 10:

1. Always drink plenty of water. In fact right now before I keep writing this list, I’m going to get a big glass for myself. Hold on.

2. Eat plenty of fruit, especially juicy fruit, like oranges and berries. Fruit is hydrating. And just like the water it keeps the skin looking softer. In fact if you’re hungry go for fruit first. The juicier the better!

4. Exercise every day. The body craves this and sweat is a natural detoxifier. Exercise also pumps blood to the surface of the skin so your face is rosier without make-up. And it releases endorphins that make you look happier and relaxes the facial muscles. It also helps you fit into your skinny jeans.

5. Stand on your head every day. And practice yoga regularly. Yes, this does sort of fall under the general exercise every day in #4, but yoga has it’s own special benefits. It keeps you juicy, the body and the mind and the soul. I think a lot of staying youthful is about staying juicy. See # 2 and 3. Also, yoga is a lot about inversions and turning your body upside down as often as possible helps reverse gravity. Have you ever seen those older yogi women? Their faces don’t sag. And inversions also give you a different perspective on life, flipping your assumptions upside down. Go stand on your head now. (If you’ve never stood on your head, lie on your back and scootch your butt up flush to a wall and lean your legs up the wall and you’re officially inverted! I don’t want anyone to end up with a neck injury! Not beautiful!)

7. Eat chocolate. Dark. While I am very careful with consumption, I do believe in chocolate because cocoa is not only an antioxidant but it is also good for the complexion and has some natural sun protection built in and it also releases feel good chemicals. Plus it just tastes really yummy and that that makes you feel good. Feeling good looks good.

8. Don’t sun bathe. I was always so jealous of those Golden Goddess Girls who could tan when I was growing up while I was always too fair and uncomfortable in the sun to stay out for very long. And now? They are dried up and wrinkled and full of age spots. And I’m still pale. But oh well.

9. Don’t be afraid of your power. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be afraid to let your most authentic self shine through. Live fully and freely in your body. And most importantly, love who you are, flaws and all. Especially your flaws. Flaws are hot!

11. Smile. When you feel it. Don’t fake it. (maybe try #10 to get to #11). Everyone looks more beautiful when they smile!

Gail Konop Baker is the author of Cancer is a Bitch: (Or, I’d Rather be Having a Midlife Crisis). She’s working on a second a book about marriage and also working really hard on having that midlife crisis now. And if you want to know what beauty products she is using on her face and hair, you can drop her an e-mail (gkonopbaker@gmail.com) or leave a comment for her below.

03/02/2010

Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.

Dr. Weil's health care call to action

Changes we can demand immediately

As an American, you have a right to good health care that is effective, accessible, and affordable, that serves you from infancy through old age, that allows you to go to practitioners and facilities of your choosing, and that offers a broad range of therapeutic options.

We currently have an expensive system that is not making people well. While there has been tremendous debate over access and payment, there has been less focus on the content of health care. Without a change in that content, we will never have a sustainable system; all attempts at reform will be taken down by unmanageable costs. Continue reading...

As an American, you have a right to good health care that is effective, accessible, and affordable, that serves you from infancy through old age, that allows you to go to practitioners and facilities of your choosing, and that offers a broad range of therapeutic options.

We currently have an expensive system that is not making people well. While there has been tremendous debate over access and payment, there has been less focus on the content of health care. Without a change in that content, we will never have a sustainable system; all attempts at reform will be taken down by unmanageable costs.

Sales of $643 billion a year have made the pharmaceutical industry the most profitable business in the country. Most pharmaceutical companies spend a huge portion of their budget on advertising. The result is a nation of people who believe there's a pill for every health problem. Big pharma advertising is producing a distorted and narrow view of how health care works, which is why there are several bills moving through Congress that aim to clamp down on it.

2. Create a National Institute of Health and Healing at the NIH and fund it generously.

If our health care system is to achieve greatness, our medicine needs to return to its roots. It must focus again on the natural healing power of human beings. This means investing more in research that will help us understand the body's ability to defend itself from harm, regenerate damaged tissue and adapt to injury and loss. Doing so will help us create and improve treatment and therapies that are less invasive and less expensive while making the most of our most powerful healing asset: ourselves.

3. Create an Office of Health Promotion within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and fund it appropriately.

We spend 40 times more on the health risks of terrorism than we do on the health risks of obesity, which kills about 400,000 people a year. There is too much emphasis on treating disease rather than on protecting health in the first place. We need to invest real dollars and ingenuity in educating people about nutrition, exercise and other healthy activities. It's the single most effective way to defeat the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and conditions that lead to life-threatening diseases.

We need to create a new generation of hands-on primary care physicians who are as knowledgeable about promoting health practices that their patients can adopt to prevent serious, chronic diseases as they are about disease management and crisis intervention.5. Require insurers to cover health promotion and integrative care.

Millions of Americans today are taking dietary supplements, practicing yoga and integrating other natural therapies into their lives. These are all preventive measures that will keep them out of the doctor's office and drive down the costs of treating serious problems like heart disease and diabetes. Yet none of these healthy activities is covered by insurance companies.

6. Establish an Office of Health Education within the U.S. Department of Education.

We need to start healthy habits young. This office would make nutrition, diet, and exercise an integrated part of every child's education and encourage innovative ways to teach healthy practices to young people so the message sticks.

7. Learn how to take care of yourself!

You can't afford to get sick, and you can't depend on the present health care system to keep you well. It's up to you to protect and maintain your body's innate capacity for health and healing by making the right choices in how you live.

03/01/2010

If you're trying, like me, to include more green tea in your day, take a peek at the above video. My husband and I sample three flavors of Rishi Tea: Jasmine Pearl, Houjicha, and Orange Blossom (all three are organic). We almost agree on our favorites.

Because while medication can sometimes fix our brain chemicals (actually rarely except for the most severely depressed), they do nothing to address our habits of depression. To overcome depression, we also need "to replace depressive patterns of thinking, relating, and behaving with a new and more effective set of skills."

While Dr. O’Connor beautifully addressed some specific actions during the interview, there were many things we did not get to on air. I wanted to point out at least three very practical items from his book. I worry that these may seem oversimplified in this format, but I thought they were worth putting out there.

Hands on activities to help ‘undo’ depression:

3 good things: Once you turn off the light at bedtime, think of 3 good things that happened that day. (Even small things like what you had for lunch, an attractive person you saw, or a song you heard.) As you focus on those things, notice where you feel the joy in your body. Hold on to that moment and visualize the neurons in your brain forming new happiness circuits. (Yes, you are actually rewiring your brain with this task, helping to reset your happiness set point.*) Let yourself drift off to sleep with these good feelings.

Avoid enablers. The people who make it easy for you to perform your self-defeating behaviors.

Mood journal: When you start to feel yourself spiral into depression or anxiety, write down how and what you’re feeling. Doing so will allow you to start to see patterns in your moods so that you begin to realize they don’t just come ‘out of the blue’. Knowing the the triggers can help us manage them. Seeing a pattern will make us feel less crazy or out of control. Here is a link describing the mood journal in more detail: http://www.undoingdepression.com/livingwell/lwmoodjounal.html

*Likewise, research has shown that negative thoughts destroy these circuits in the brain. See Undoing Depressionfor more details.

Listen to Dr. Richard O'Connor's interview:

And here's my monologue...a few insights from my days selling psychiatric drugs:

02/23/2010

Welcome back to Prevention Not Prescriptions Tuesday. This is a weekly forum where we’re coming together to inform and inspire each other to healthier living. Tuesdays are our chance to take our health into our own hands and say “hell no” to more pills and the pharmaceutical industry’s endless search for profits.

Morning yoga with Tara Stiles…

5 steps to radiant health

Wouldn't it be nice to live vibrantly healthy, have loads of energy, an envious body, and feel fantastic all of the time? Totally, right! We often forget that we have more control than we might allow ourselves to believe over many aspects of our lives, including our health. Things might happen that are out of our control, but how we handle our lives is completely up to us. We can live long lives with good health, abundant energy, and ease if we choose to live consciously. The more space we create inside our bodies, and the more attention we turn towards treating our lives with respect, the more we can live with ease. Continue reading…

Wouldn't it be nice to live vibrantly healthy, have loads of energy, an envious body, and feel fantastic all of the time? Totally, right! We often forget that we have more control than we might allow ourselves to believe over many aspects of our lives, including our health. Things might happen that are out of our control, but how we handle our lives is completely up to us. We can live long lives with good health, abundant energy, and ease if we choose to live consciously. The more space we create inside our bodies, and the more attention we turn towards treating our lives with respect, the more we can live with ease. When we bring awareness to our habits we have the ability to gain perspective and hopefully muster the courage to make a change for the positive.

A lot of us face similar challenges that affect our health negatively. We think we don't have any time to take care of ourselves, and we often feel that taking time for ourselves is selfish. Thankfully we can connect, empathize, and support each other to elevate to a clearer state of being. We all have to do lists that are a mile long, jobs, families, obligations, and goals. Life builds stress. Stress will never go away. How we deal with it can make all the difference in our lives.

1. Breathe. When we stress we hold our breath. You've probably heard it loads of times, but it's something that we all need to be reminded of. Just breathe. Long, deep inhales and exhales expand our bodies, clear our minds, and make room when we feel like there is none. Try just for a few moments to rest your attention on your breath. When you notice yourself thinking, guide your attention back to your breath. Focus on watching the quality of your inhales and exhales. When we take the time to make space for something other than following the hamster wheel that is our thoughts, our intuition and awareness have an opportunity to surface. Meditation is useful for good health and can be something that you fit right into your day whether it's 5 minutes in the morning, when you're in the shower, making breakfast, or at work. 5 minutes makes worlds of difference.

2. Pay attention. We can learn so much from paying attention to our habits and our way of being to ourselves and each other. Food diaries don't work when it comes to weight loss because so many of us live mindlessly and actually don't know what we ate, let alone enjoyed our meal, or snack, or remember to write it down. When we realize there is no destination but the present moment, our lives crack wide open. There is a lot of common sense to "be here now." Hint * the breath can help bring us into the moment. This helps with enjoying our lives, easing tension, and everything else.

3. Be easy on yourself. Compassion starts with the self. From ourselves we move into the world. It's hard to be easy on ourselves. When we drop our fears, and insecurities (this takes work) we can begin to understand that the universe is on our side. Have you ever had one of those days where you felt like everything was going your way and things were set up for you? We can have more days like that when we work to dissolve whatever is holding us back from living our best lives. There is only one YOU on the planet for a reason.

4. Be easy on others. We have a better chance of getting along with others if we are able to get along with ourselves. Once we make time for ourselves we have the space to allow others to exist in our presence in peace. We snap at others when we are tight in our bodies.

5. Cultivate balance. Trees can teach us a ton. They live for a very long time and have a few elements that we can adapt to help us also. Strong roots, flexible branches. When we work to strengthen our bodies through mindful exercise, whether that's yoga, running, or something else, we carve out strong roots. By moving mindfully we do the same in our lives. Strength creates boundaries and keeps us stable. From this strength we can extend ourselves (flexible branches). Branches can blow easily in the breeze because they are connected to a strong core. We can be the same through practice. In yoga we work to build strength and flexibility equally to create balance in the body and mind. Use what you need. Rest what you don't.

Bonus Step! Practice. We've never arrived, and always have work to do. That's why they call it practice. It should be enjoyable to practice. Whether your practice is meditation, gardening, yoga, running, or something else, it should bring you back to you, where all the good stuff is. Try out this gentle morning yoga routine to lengthen your body, calm your mind, and set you up to live a healthy day. Enjoy!

I'm a filmmaker, writer, and talk radio host. After a decade of schlepping drugs for big pharma, I finally got the ovaries to walk away from my career as a pill pusher and share what I knew on the big screen. I wrote and directed the feature film Side Effects (starring Katherine Heigl) as well as...(Read full bio)